Elvis Star Austin Butler Breaks Silence on Lisa Marie Presley’s Death

The entertainment world is mourning the loss of Lisa Marie Presley, who passed away earlier this month due to an apparent cardiac arrest. The musician, who was the only child of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley, had just gotten back into the spotlight because of the film Elvis. The Baz Luhrmann-helmed biopic chronicled some major moments of her father’s life, and Presley had appeared at the Golden Globes just days prior to her death to cheer on the film’s star, Austin Butler. During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Butler opened up about his personal connection to Presley, and called her passing “devastating.”

“I first met Lisa when we screened the film at Graceland,” Butler revealed. “I’ve never had an experience where I met somebody and felt an immediate depth of relationship to them. She’s also, she’s a person who didn’t have anything to prove and wouldn’t open up to everybody and she just opened up to me. We got so close so fast, so it’s just devastating.”

Born on February 1, 1968, Presley has been the sole heir of her father’s estate, inheriting it in 1993 upon her 25th birthday. In addition to prolific charity and humanitarian work, Presley still owns her father’s iconic Graceland property in Memphis, Tennessee. She has also released three albums of music over the years, with her most recent one being 2012’s Storm & Grace.

“I wouldn’t say I talk to him… I just remember everything,” Presley said of her father in a 2018 appearance on the U.K. talk show Lorraine. “I can sort of pull out of the files whatever memories I have and stuff like that. And occasionally ask for help. Which was the case with this record. I just felt like a hand come down to me, it felt like that a little bit.”

Presley has been married four times, including to musician Michael Jackson and actor Nicolas Cage. She has three children, including Max Mad: Fury Road and Daisy Jones and the Six actress Riley Keough.

What is Elvis about?

Elvis explores the life and music of Elvis Presley (Butler), seen through the prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Hanks). The story delves into the complex dynamic between Presley and Parker spanning over 20 years, from Presley’s rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom, against the backdrop of the evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America. Central to that journey is one of the most significant and influential people in Elvis’s life, Priscilla Presley (Olivia DeJonge). The cast of Elvis also includes Dacre Montgomery, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Luke Bracey, and Shonka Dukureh.

Our thoughts are with Presley, her family, her friends, and her fans at this time.